The Education System

With this post I would like to address one of the largest problems Tanzania is facing today: battling against their own education system. Essentially what has been set up is a system in which it improbable that you will reach success. First of all, school is very expensive. Primary school is free, yet after that, it becomes very hard for people to afford. This creates a neverending circle of poverty for most families - if you are uneducated and poor, your children will likely meet the same fate.
Even if your family is able to pay your way through, it is not very easy to pass. All through primary and elementary schools the children are taught only in Swahili, yet as soon as they reach secondary school, they are taught solely in English. This would be the equivelent of the average teenager from Ontario, who knows some French, moving to a Quebec when they are thirteen and having to learn everything in French. Not easy.
Everything the kids are taught in primary and elementary school is wrote. As soon as you walk in the door they may say, "hello teacha, how are you?... I am fine sankyou teacha," but they have absolutely no idea what that means. They can count to 10, but if you show them a page with four dots on it, they wouldn't have a clue as to how to identify the quantity of dots. They recite the days of the week, but are unaware which ones they go to school on. It's sad, and also very hard on the volunteer 'teachas' who have making efforts to communicate with them.
To be a teacher in Tanzania, all you need is to have completed schooling above the age that you are teaching. For example, many of the local teacher who are teaching the equivalent of grade 4 have a grade 5 education.
This problem is one of the largest contributing factors to the divide in Tanzania - there are a few people will a lot of money, and a lot of people with no money.
So for those teachers back in Canada who can't find jobs.... learn some Swahili and come fix this system. haha.